Optimizing an aircraft seating arrangement includes maximizing seating capacity while attending to passenger comfort. Generally, the more spacious and comfortable a seat, the more an airline can charge for the seat, but the fewer the number of seats that can be provided.
A traditional aircraft seat includes a base portion upon which a passenger sits and a seatback against which a passenger leans back. The seatback is typically adjustable to move between a generally upright “takeoff and landing position” and a slightly reclined “traveling” position. Aircraft seats are typically arranged side-by-side in rows transverse to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft with the seats facing forward in the direction of travel. The seat rows are typically spaced apart from one another so that in commercial aircraft the seats have a pitch between 27 and 82 inches to provide legroom between the rows. Longitudinal aisles may be provided that divide the seats into sections. For example, the seating arrangement may include two aisles that divide the seating arrangement into a center section and two side sections to provide improved ingress and egress to the rows and access to emergency exits.
To maximize profit, airlines charge higher fares for upgraded or premium seating. For example, a premium seat may be wider, and recline farther, and be arranged to provide more legroom than a standard seat. Some aircraft are divided into different class cabins, with each having a different seating arrangement. For example, an aircraft may have a higher fare “first class” cabin near the front of the plane and a lower fare “coach” class cabin at the rear of the plane.
In recent years, seats have been developed that are convertible between a “takeoff and landing” position to a “lie-flat” sleeping position to allow the seats to be used as “beds.” These seats have proven popular on long haul and international flights during which a passenger may desire to sleep aboard the aircraft. While such lie-flat seating provides additional comforts to passengers, and allows airlines to charge higher fares, lie-flat seating requires additional space, making it difficult to provide in large quantity. For example, when seats are oriented at an angle with respect to a longitudinal axis of an aircraft, a typical lie-flat seating arrangement has a seat pitch of about 58 to 63 inches, which is significantly more than the pitch of typical of coach class seating which ranges from 27 to 34 inches. Angled lie-flat seating places one passenger's head over the feet of the passenger directly behind him or her. Non-angled lie-flat seating will typically have a pitch of 76 to 82 inches and will often rely on an alternative arrangement of seats to facilitate efficient utilization of space in the aircraft.
Several attempts have been made to provide fully reclining, lie-flat, or sleeper seat seating arrangements that efficiently utilize limited aircraft cabin space. Some arrangements have attempted to angle the seats in a horizontal plane in a “chevron” style in an attempt to increase lie-flat seating density.
Others have attempted to overlap portions of the seats vertically so that a passenger's feet are placed underneath the head of another passenger of a seat in front. For example, seats may be provided that recline at an angle so that the feet of a passenger in a rearward seat extend below the head of another passenger reclined in a seat in the row in front. Others have provided back-to-back seating in which seats are placed back-to-back, lengthwise and alternate seats are placed substantially above the passageway floor and the remaining seats below the passageway floor, so that the back of the upper seat recline over the back of the adjacent lower seat.
More recently, a seating arrangement that includes a raised seat that overlaps two lower seats when reclined a lie-flat position has been proposed. By exploiting generally unused space to expand in a vertical direction, seating density can be increased to maximize passenger capacity while providing fully reclining seating.
While fit for their intended purposes, the prior art arrangements are plagued by several drawbacks and disadvantages. For example, in some prior art seating arrangements, the seat of a first passenger covers the head of a second passenger, a generally undesirable configuration. Other prior art arrangements fail to efficiently utilize horizontal and/or vertical space, decreasing the cost effectiveness of the arrangement. Arrangements designed to conserve space can require one passenger to crawl over another passenger to enter or exit a seat, a process that can be uncomfortable for both the moving and seated passengers. Not only is this inconvenient for both passengers but it may also lead to difficulties during an emergency. Raised seating arrangements also generally cause greater loads to be applied to the floor, and thus require heavier, and more substantial and expensive support structures to satisfy airline safety requirements.